“Barbara Hepworth was one of the major sculptors of the twentieth century, and her work has not been on public view in New York since 1979”, says Mr Guy Wildenstein, president of Wildenstein & Co. The show, at PaceWildenstein, 19 East 64th Street, from October to 16 November reintroduces, in a selection of wood, marble and bronze sculptures, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s, and all from the artist’s estate (see p.2). A number of pieces are being exhibited for the first time. The opening night reception on 7 October will benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Lucian Freud, who is known for switching his dealers in New York, opens a new show of recent work on 8 October, his first solo outing with Acquavella Contemporary Art, 18 East 79th Street. The sixteen canvases and seven etchings on view give New Yorkers the opportunity, until 16 November, to survey where he has taken his remarkably intense vision, since the crowd-pleasing retrospective of his work held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1994.
“There are drawings here that will knock your socks off”, says Robert Pincus-Witten of the Matisse show that he has helped to organise at C&M Arts, 45 East 78th Street, from 11 October to 7 December. A survey of drawings from 1906 to 1952, with loans from MoMA and other American museums as well as major private collections, and examples for sale, mostly in the high six-figures, it is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an introduction by art historian Jack Flam.
“The idea is to provide a context for the recent work”, says Angela Westwater about her gallery’s first show with Richard Tuttle consisting of early and new work ranging from the mid-1960s to today. At Sperone Westwater, 142 Greene Street, new enamels on wood share the company of the artist’s classic post-minimal slat, cloth, and paper pieces.
Other shows worth viewing: Italo Scanga at Barry Rosen & Jaap van Liere Modern and Contemporary Art, 362 West Broadway. In his first New York gallery show since 1989, Scanga presents new sculptures consisting of carved figures in cage-like settings and a group of thirty-one small paintings. Throughout October and by appointment only.
Lucio Pozzi’s Rag Rug Group at John Weber Gallery, 142 Greene Street. New textured geometric paintings in the artist’s splendidly energetic series. Until 12 October.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'A Freud first at Acquavella'